


Coldfront

by cornpony



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sorta Fluffy, a cabin in the woods, one of those 'warming up in front of the fireplace' kinda stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 16:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8585071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cornpony/pseuds/cornpony
Summary: Six hours.  For six hours, Sniper’s communicator had been offline, likely due to the blizzard that had come from out of nowhere.  Scout tried to radio him at least once a minute for that entire duration, out of his mind with worry—Sniper could hold his own in the wilderness, but in that much snow, the Australian was really out of his element.





	

“Christ,” Sniper muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.“Never been so cold in all me life.”

Six hours.For six hours, Sniper’s communicator had been offline, likely due to the blizzard that had come from out of nowhere.Scout tried to radio him at least once a minute for that entire duration, out of his mind with worry—Sniper could hold his own in the wilderness, but in that much snow, the Australian was really out of his element. 

So when Sniper finally stumbled into the cabin a little after midnight, Scout nearly passed out from the wave of sheer relief that flooded over him.Sniper had really made it.He was _alive._ Scout wouldn’t ever say this to him, but with every minute Sniper spent gone from the cabin, Scout became that much surer that he wouldn’t come back.

But he did.

“Lemme see your hands,” Scout said, kneeling at Sniper’s side in front of the fireplace. 

“Me hands?”

“Yeah, your hands.Stick ‘em out, lemme look at ‘em real quick.”

Reluctantly, Sniper did as he was told, sticking his hands out from under the blanket.Scout reached over and held one of Sniper’s hands in both of his.God, they were so cold.He gave each fingertip a few light pinches.

“That hurt?” Scout asked him.

“Nah.”

“I’m serious, like _tell_ me if it hurts, ‘cause I’m checkin’ for frostbite, here.”

“Well I reckon I haven’t got frostbite, you can tell by lookin’.They’re not blue, or anythin’.”

“They ain’t gotta be _blue_ for ya to have frostbite, Snipes, sometimes they just look”—he swallowed—“well, real white, like this.”Scout let go of Sniper’s hand and grabbed up the other one, giving it the same treatment as he did the other.“How ‘bout this one, ’s it hurt, are they numb?”

Sniper shook his head.“M’fine.”

Scout burrowed his hands through the pile of blankets shrouding Sniper’s body and ran the same test with all of Sniper’s toes.No frostbite.Unless Sniper was lying, which Scout wouldn’t put it past him to do—he didn’t like to trouble others, even over something serious like this.

Sniper mumbled something, but Scout didn’t catch what he said. 

“Huh?”

“I, er…nothin’, just…haven’t had anybody fuss over me since…well.  I don’t even remember the last time.  Guess it’d be the last time I ever sawr me mum.  Few years ago.  So.  You know.  Thanks.”

Scout had been so sure. _So_ sure Sniper was dead, and if the communicators weren’t even working because of the snowstorm, what if respawn wasn’t working, either?There was a respawn chamber in a rickety old building a few paces from the cabin, but there was no Hardhat up here to run routine maintenance on it.Doc wasn’t here to take care of Sniper if something bad happened.It might’ve been only ten miles to town, but in this blizzard, it may as well have been a hundred; and anyway, Scout couldn’t speak a word of Russian, so who the hell knew if he’d actually be able to get Sniper the help he needed, if it came to that.They were alone up here.They had no one but each other to depend on.

Without the safety net of the respawn chamber or the MediGun—shit, even a nearby hospital—Scout had felt genuinely human for the first time in a long time.Human and scared.

He put his palm against Sniper’s forehead.Sniper was still a little cool to the touch, but he was warming up pretty quick.Scout raked his fingers through Sniper’s hair.Earlier, it had been damp with the snow that had melted through his hat, but it was dry now.Good. 

Sniper was giving him some kind of curious look, but Scout chose to ignore it; he just spent six hours thinking this guy was dead, he figured he was entitled to touch him a little.He grazed his thumb across Sniper’s cheek, feeling the scratchy stubble there.

Scout could be wrong, but it looked like a smile was trying to tug at the corners of Sniper’s lips. 

“Sorry,” Sniper said, voice so low it was nearly a whisper.

Scout felt his brow furrow.“What for?”

“M…makin’ you worry abou’ me, I suppose.”

Scout shook his head.“It ain’t like ya _meant_ to get trapped out in a snowstorm, Snipes.”

“Well.Yeah.But still.”

Before he could fully grasp what he was doing, Scout leaned over and touched his lips against Sniper’s.It could barely be called a kiss, but Scout wouldn’t know what else it could be.He held his lips there for a few good seconds, his warm ones against Sniper’s cold ones; and just when he was about to pull away, Sniper leaned his head in a little, as well, increasing the pressure of this…whatever this was. 

Scout guessed it pretty much was a kiss, technically.Albeit a weird one.

Carefully, Scout leaned his head away from Sniper’s, disengaging their lips with a sticky-sounding _p-chh_.

“Sorry,” Scout said huskily.

That time, Sniper did smile—if only a little.“What for?”

A slow, lazy grin crept across Scout’s face.“For doin’ that, I guess.”

Sniper stared at him for awhile before he offered up a reply.“Don’t…don’t be sorry for it.It was…nice.”

Scout got the vague impression that his heart was hammering in his chest, but he barely felt it.He was barely feeling anything at that moment.He flung himself at the lump in front of the fireplace that was mostly blankets but was also Sniper underneath them somewhere, then hooked his arms around what he was pretty sure was Sniper’s neck.

“Don’t scare me like that no more, okay?” he whispered, lips moving against Sniper’s ear.

Sniper made an odd sound, something between a gurgle and a throat-clearing noise. 

“I won’t.”

The fire crackled and popped happily in the fireplace.It might be a nice little setting—warm fireplace, cabin in the woods, snowing outside—if it weren’t for the fact that Sniper nearly fucking _died_.Now that the worst was over and Sniper was safe inside the cabin, Scout was really feeling the adrenaline crash.Sniper was here and he wasn’t dead and he didn’t have frostbite and he was _here_ and he was with _him_ and o _h shit Scout had kissed him hadn’t he_? 

But Sniper had said it was nice.

Sniper _liked_ it.

Oh God, what did all this even _mean_?

Scout didn’t have the energy nor the desire to think about it right now.There’d be plenty of time for that later.Right now, he could hear Sniper breathing in his ear, could feel the man’s warmth beneath his palms, could smell last night’s soap mingling with today’s sweat on Sniper’s skin.It might not be a lot, but it was enough for now.

Definitely enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write a "cabin in the woods" thing with Scout and Sniper for awhile, but I didn't know how to go about it until tonight. I'm glad I finally wrote this! It feels like a long time coming.


End file.
